BLG 144 Chapter Notes - Chapter 51: Behavioral Ecology, Circadian Clock, Mate Choice
Document Summary
Behavioural ecology investigates the ecological and evolutionary basis of the behaviour of organisms in response to particular stimuli from their environments. Most behavioural studies start by carefully observing what animals do in response to specific problems and situations. Investigators use experimental approaches to probe the primate and ultimate causes of behaviour: Primate (or mechanistic) causation- explains how actions occur in terms of neurological, hormonal, and skeletal muscular mechanisms involved. Fixed action patterns- an instinctive behavioural action that is basically a reflex in organisms. Innate behaviour- inherited behaviours that do not need to be learned or practiced. It is (cid:373)u(cid:272)h (cid:373)ore (cid:272)o(cid:373)(cid:373)o(cid:374) for a(cid:374) i(cid:374)di(cid:448)idual"s (cid:271)eha(cid:448)iour to: change in response to learning, show flexibility in response to changing environmental conditions. Most animals have a range of actions that they can perform in response to a situation animals take in information from the environment and based on that information they will make a decision about what to do.
